


priority

by ElasticElla



Series: Once Upon an Alphabet [16]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Girls Like Girls: a comment ficathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:04:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4450406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything was supposed to become good once Rumple's soul was cleansed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	priority

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted at the ficathon [here](http://inthewildwood.livejournal.com/40383.html?thread=151231#t151231)

Everything was supposed to become good once Rumple's soul was cleansed. Once there was nothing standing between them, no power or darkness left to chose over Belle. And Rumple did try, made her favorite dinners and brought her flowers from all over town, but she couldn't help the bitterness from sinking into her heart. With every gesture she thought how new and novel they were, how she had never been chosen before. (And now, she'd think, in a dismal mood, she was only being chosen over loneliness.)

Rumple expects the break up for the wrong reasons, and she doesn't correct him. 

She goes to the Rabbit Hole to drink, her other self's tastes surely couldn't be that different. And she knows her other self knew how to forget, how to make any pain go away. 

Marian's tending the bar, and Belle's sudden curiosity distracts her from thinking about what she just ended. (She knows it was the right choice, but it still hurts.) She sits at the corner bar stool, fiddling with a drink menu as she waits for Marian to finish the dwarves' order. 

“Belle,” Marian greets with a smile, “what can I get you?” 

Belle bites her lip, “I don't know I'm afraid- something strong?”

Marian's look turns sympathetic, and she comes back moments later with a tall dark blue drink. 

“Should I ask?” 

“I discovered it last week, it'll do the trick.” 

“Cheers,” Belle says, and the blue beverage is surprisingly delicious and hard to define. “Is what happened last week why you're working here?” 

Marian sighs, “Yes. I'm surprised it isn't all over town that my... ex, husband chose Regina.” 

Belle winces, “If it makes you feel any better, my ex chose power over me.”

Marian lets out a small chuckle, “It kind of does. What a sad pair we make.”

Perhaps the drink is already hitting her fast, or perhaps she's lonelier than she thought, because Belle's next words flow without thought. “I would have never chosen Regina before you.” 

“Sweet,” Marian says, “but unnecessary. I know she's good now, she saved my life- and Roland's when I wasn't here.”

“Good doesn't equal nice you know,” Belle says, tipping her glass to Marian, “ _and_ I bet you don't steal the covers.”

Marian is a little shocked, and looks around quickly as though the Queen herself might suddenly show. “ _What_?” 

Belle grins, “Pour me another and I'll tell you about the time she incinerated some children's books in the library.” 

“She didn't,” Marian begins, but she can imagine it all too easily. “Well, _why_?”

Belle grins, “They were factually inaccurate.”

Marian's shaking her head as she mixes Belle a new drink, and Belle thinks maybe Lacey wasn't half so bad as her recollections suggest, or at the very least, her alternate self can really pick a place.


End file.
